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Today, it is not surprising to hear that parents are spending anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 a year per child on sports, dance or other activities. In some cases, that amount can be even higher, when there are several children in the family and each are taking several activities at a time. According to financial guru Dave Ramsey, “some parents can spend up to $10,000 a year funding their child’s athletic pursuits.” Why is the cost so high these days? First of all there is equipment that parents much purchase, everything from figure skates or hockey skates, to baseball equipment … Continue reading →

Life is expensive enough when you pay average prices for things that you want or need. Some things are so overpriced that once you realize how overpriced they are, they will probably lose their appeal. For example, did you know that celebrity fragrances cost fifty to sixty percent as much as similar scents that do not have a famous face associated with them? Perfume and cologne smell nice, but that pricing scheme just reeks. Printer ink is another item where it is easy to lose money. You can have many ink cartridges refilled for a fraction of the price of … Continue reading →

Summer hasn’t officially started, but if you are serious about saving money this season, then now is the perfect time to get in gear. Once you are done switching out your winter clothes for summer attire and getting your grill and patio furniture cleaned up for backyard barbeques, take some time to do a home energy audit. Experts recommend completing one at the start of the summer season in order to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on energy deficiencies. Many homeowners shy away from the process because a formal audit by a trained professional costs a few hundred dollars … Continue reading →

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but you can certainly save some cash this summer by taking advantage of Mother Nature’s goodness. Don’t let soaring food prices put a damper on your seasonal fun; rather, consider growing your own fruits and vegetables in order to preserve your family’s household budget. You might be surprised by how a little farming can yield big savings for the average American family. According to the Wall Street Journal, for every $1 you spend on green bean seeds, you have the ability to grow an average of $75 worth of produce. In addition, for every $1 … Continue reading →

Saving money is always a good thing. Sometimes, it can pay to reassess how we pay for things that we have been using for a few years. For example, when was the last time you shopped around for homeowner’s insurance or made any changes to your policy? Here are a few tips for saving money on your homeowner’s policy without leaving yourself open to the risk that your coverage will not adequately protect you from the financial effects of loss of or damage to your home. First, it is important to determine the correct amount of coverage. You certainly want … Continue reading →

If you have been debating whether or not to take out a loan to get rid of some of your debt, you may be on your way to finding a good solution to the problems of high interest and that nagging feeling that it will take forever to pay off that debt. One of the reasons that things like old credit card debt take so long to pay off is that the debt often keeps growing long after you have cut up the card and stopped using it. For example, I have a few old credit card balances that I … Continue reading →

Don’t let the calendar fool you—summer is officially here, at least in my neck of the woods. We have been sizzling in 90-degree (plus) heat for more than a week. Despite the crazy hot temperatures, my daughter and I saw a man cutting his lawn with a push mower at 11 a.m. yesterday when the mercury had to be pushing 89 degrees. Come to find out, the guy is not as nutty as I thought. In fact, he’s probably smarter and richer than most of us who use a power mower to cut our grass. According to the Environmental Protection … Continue reading →

If you use email, you have undoubtedly heard of phishing by now. Phishing scams have been around for quite some time, and unfortunately they still find plenty of victims. If you have a cell phone like so many people do, you may be targeted by a cousin of the phishing scam – the smishing scam. Smishing is SMS text phishing, and scammers are using it to get bank account and credit card information of unsuspecting cell phone users. Tonight, when my husband came home from work, he was telling me about how he keeps getting these text messages that appear … Continue reading →

Be happy with what you have. That’s one of the best ways to save money, according to my dad. He used to employ that line a lot when I was in high school trying to pump him for money to buy designer jeans. Twenty years later, I see his point. When you stop looking for fulfillment in material things, it’s much easier to spend less money and find contentment in the items you already have. Of course, if you just lost 20 pounds and your pants don’t fit any more, then by all means, spend, spend, spend. Now that summer … Continue reading →

I’m addicted to these things, but at nearly $10 per box, I can’t afford to purchase them on a regular basis. Not just because they put a strain on my grocery bill, but if I ate as many as I wanted, I’d have to shell out additional money to purchase new pants. Mini donuts = money trap… but a dang fine tasting money trap. Thinking before you buy an item is a sure-fire way to avoid money traps. Exercise conscious spending. Before you fill fridge with cinnamon goodness or your den with pricey electronics or your kid’s room with a … Continue reading →